


noid

by chancellorxofxtrash



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Multi, Paranoia, Polyamory, Ryo Marufuji Needs Kinkshaming, Vigilantism, implied Yubel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26669020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: It isn't paranoia if they are really out to get you.But it doesn't mean you don't get to enjoy it.
Relationships: Marufuji Ryou | Zane Truesdale/Edo Phoenix | Aster Phoenix, Marufuji Ryou | Zane Truesdale/Edo Phoenix | Aster Phoenix/Yuuki Judai | Jaden Yuki, Marufuji Ryou | Zane Truesdale/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki
Comments: 11
Kudos: 17





	noid

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I am back at it again creating another ot3 tag shhhh.

Hard to call someone paranoid, if people are really out to get them.

People didn’t forget easily, after all.

Sure, as a collective, they moved on easier. Things change. Kaiser Ryo, the promising young duelist who turned out to be a failure became Hell Kaiser Ryo, and only showed up to be completely brutal, and then Ryo Marufuji appeared again, a hardened look in his eyes, and his brother on his side, less horrifying energy, and more precise calculation and determination, like the Kaiser and Hell Kaiser had merged together in his soul, and the two brothers started another League on their own.

Sho was the person who was meeting with people the most. He was short and harmless-looking, but through the years he spent learning and studying, he became surprisingly firm and could stand his ground easily - and when someone wasn’t willing to listen to reason, they quickly found out why did his brother trust him with this.

Nobody expected that unassuming young man to summon the horrifying-looking Cyberdarks, after all.

But Sho Marufuji was one thing, if easily underestimated.

He was not the  _ face _ that drew people in, no. He helped establish the reputation of the League, but he was not the main selling point initially.

No, that title still belonged to Ryo Marufuji.

~*~

Ryo Marufuji.

Hell Kaiser Ryo.

He still kept his head high, and was present whenever he needed to be.

Sooner or later, he will duel again. Probably even competitively, and his entire body was pulsing with excitement over the thought - and he could feel his deck also radiating anticipation.

But not yet.

Not quite yet.

That’s not to say he wasn’t present. Oh, he very much was.

He was always there, watching all the matches, and sometimes even duelled - usually people he already knew.

People usually loved his duels against Sho. Usually people were rooting for Sho as well, because he had that charm - the charm of an underdog, a little brother growing up enough to get out of his big brother’s shadow.

They didn’t know Sho had done that ages ago.

Anyways, it was a good feeling, watching these duelists in the Cyber League grow and advance, and learn from each other and their mistakes.

It was rewarding.

Getting back to the spotlight was not without drawbacks, though.

~*~

Ryo Marufuji might have been a more respected member of this community, but people knew he was hard to get close to.

The press, the sponsors, the people willing to enter the Cyber League, they were all at arms length from him most of the time.

He didn’t just hire  _ anyone  _ for security.

People called him paranoid - they preferred to make deals with Sho, and it was fine for Ryo that way.

Besides you aren’t paranoid, if they are out to get you.

~*~

Back in the Dark World, once they managed to get themselves a stable residence (it was hard to tell how much time had passed), being  _ paranoid  _ was their best chance at survival.

Edo usually summoned Dark Angel, and Ryo would summon Cyber Dragon Core - the Angel would take the skies and the trees surrounding the area, while the Dragon could dig itself to the ground, keeping guard there.

And if there were soldiers coming, they would be ready.

And they would collect information.

The first they heard about the Supreme King, Ryo almost immediately walked out the door, and Edo just grabbed his arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ryo sneered. “I’ll go and see if the Supreme King is a worthy opponent to fight or not.”

“Like hell you are,” Edo hissed, his grip tightening on Ryo’s arm, his always-surprising strength hidden in his smaller frame. “You are  _ not  _ going to run out blind to challenge some evil overlord. We are going to stay and gather information.”

“Oh? Are we?”

“If you want to kick the bucket fighting against some idiot with delusions of grandeur, knock yourself out,” Edo rolled his eyes, letting him go. “Wouldn’t you rather know for sure?”

Annoyingly, Edo did have a point.

So Ryo stayed, and they would keep collecting information about the Supreme King - and the more they heard about him, the less they thought he was just some idiot with a bloated ego.

The Supreme King sounded cruel and dangerous, and  _ powerful,  _ rapidly extending his reach over the land.

Then they heard the first rumour from one of the dying soldiers.

A name, a whispered name before the spirit disappeared.

A name, that, when he heard it, it caused Ryo to turn around and walk towards the door again, before Edo stepped in front of him again.

“Get out of my way.”

Edo did not move, and his face did not betray his thoughts - Ryo briefly wondered what was running through Edo’s head, what were the options he was considering. In the end Edo smirked, but this smirk did not reach his eyes - his pale eyes were still ice cold, carefully controlling his own emotions.

“Oh so you are gonna listen to hearsay?”

“That’s what we had been doing until now, hadn’t we? Out of my way.”

“No,” Edo was stubborn, not averting his gaze. “What is your plan exactly? Marching up to his castle and knocking on his door?”

“If he really is Judai, he will answer a challenge.”

“If he truly would be Judai, he wouldn’t be doing this.”

“Or maybe you just don’t want to think about him committing these crimes. Soft for him, Phoenix?”

Ryo was smirking, and Edo’s eyes narrowed.

“I have a debt. That is why I am here. Nevertheless, you can’t rush in aimlessly, like a total idiot.”

“Or else?”

“I defeated you once,” Edo’s voice was ice cold. “I can do it again.”

“Oh?” Ryo was outright grinning now. “And are you ready to have my blood on your hands if you do?”

“I would rather kill you myself than let Judai waste his time on you and your lackluster efforts.”

Ryo snorted, and turned away from the door.

“Besides,” Edo continued. “If what your brother told you is true, and Manjoume is dead…”

“Then odds are, the others are dead too, I know,” Ryo interrupted him, impatiently. “And maybe  _ that  _ would be enough to push Judai over the edge.”

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, and then Ryo glanced back at Edo - now there  _ was  _ a troubled expression on Edo’s face, something he couldn’t quite hide.

“You had defeated him once.”

“And he had defeated me,” Edo said, annoyed. “And you had defeated him as well.”

“And then we had a draw.”

Both of them were silent, and Ryo felt an uneasiness creep up in his chest.

Judai Yuki, bright and enthusiastic, and optimistic, always ready to reach out and help - undoubtedly a fool, but an always well-meaning one, who had already put himself on the line for his friends and the world multiple times.

The terror in the eyes of the soldiers when they mentioned the Supreme King, and the many creatures on the run. The stories, the whispers, the shadows that reached into their mansion that they took over.

Ryo sighed, and started to walk towards the stairs.

“Ryo…?”

He did not turn back upon hearing Edo’s voice.

“We need to be sure about the Supreme King’s identity,” Ryo heard himself say. “Until then, we cannot form a battle plan.”

He did not need to turn back to know that the tension eased a little from Edo’s frame.

Just a little.

~*~

_ Do not mistake me for a sacrifice. _

Ryo grabbed Judai’s arm and pulled him out of the cave.

He didn’t look back.

Judai was screaming Edo’s name, and Edo’s final scream echoed through the cave too, and Ryo did not look back.

Judai’s eyes were empty - there was  _ nothing  _ behind his eyes, there was no energy, and even his movements were stilted and heavy, and just moving forward.

Judai had lost something - lost or threw it away willingly, it was hard to tell, Ryo had no idea what really happened, even Sho seemed unsure about the details - but the fact remained that Judai was not the Judai that Ryo had met at the Academy two years before.

(Which made sense. He was not the Ryo that Judai met two years prior either.)

So Ryo just followed him.

Until… well.

Until he didn’t.

~*~

But the Dark World was a long time ago.

Edo and Ryo were both alive (mostly), and Judai - the spring was back in Judai’s step.

Eventually.

Kind of.

Not completely, it never could have been, but he wasn’t the broken shell of a teenager that he was by the time Ryo met him in the Dark World either.

Life was… normal.

Well, as normal as it could be.

He was on his way back to the penthouse he lived at - he was at a meeting with Sho and some other managers they hired. These meetings usually took place in the main building where Cyber League duels took place. Sho also lived there - Ryo did not, not for a while. It took his brother a bit to be able to let go of his worries just enough to let Ryo out of his sight (seriously, sometimes the kid acted like  _ he  _ was the older sibling), but now they were both mostly too busy with their own responsibilities and roles, to really stay close to each other.

Ryo did not live far away.

Their buildings were towards the edge of the city centre - not in the outskirts, but not in the busiest areas either.

So he was just walking home alone, and it felt like the lights in the windows were following his footsteps.

And other footsteps behind him.

“Yo, Hell Kaiser.”

The way the person behind him said his name made the hair stand up on Ryo’s neck - from what? Alert?

Anticipation?

There were three of them, all duel disks readied, and Ryo just raised his eyebrows.

“If you want to join the Cyber League this is not the way.”

“Oh, come on, Hell Kaiser. I’m sure we can entertain you.”

Three opponents in a dark, and mostly abandoned street.

Not the best odds.

Not the worst either.

The faces of the men were vaguely familiar, but Ryo couldn’t place them.

Maybe he faced them in the Underground, or afterwards when he was mowing down his opponents without mercy.

Yeah, that made the most sense.

There were many people, hungry for revenge on Hell Kaiser, the one who destroyed his opponents without mercy with a vicious grin on his face, and never looked back. And now the one who hadn’t been duelling for a while, and a heart condition people were whispering about.

“Aren’t you going to take out your duel disk, Hell Kaiser?” One of the men grinned, lifting his arm, and the other two followed. “What do you think, will you be able to take us out all together? Which one will drop down first, your Life Points, or your heart rate?”

“Your bodies, more like.”

A brand new, slightly amused voice replied from one of the side alleys, and Ryo couldn’t help but smirk either.

Smoke erupted from the alley, and there was a dark figure darting out - too tall to be anything, but a summoned monster - a humanoid figure with a long cape, and long claws, enough to make the attackers reel back in terror, and then another, much smaller figure was next to Ryo, shoving him.

“Go!”

Not like Ryo would do what he was told - he grabbed the arm of his  _ savior  _ and started to hurry like that, pulling him after himself, quickly disappearing in the maze of roads and alleys in the area that both of them knew like the back of their hands.

“I told you to go!” His rescuer yanked his arm out from Ryo’s grip and both of them stopped, close to where Ryo’s penthouse was located.

“Why? So you could play hero?” Ryo rolled his eyes. “I would have had it under control.”

“Sure. That’s why you have trouble catching your breathing.”

“That’s because the smoke bomb you threw in.”

_ “Sure.” _

Ryo pushed the hood off from his rescuer’s head, so he could look at Edo’s annoyed expression - because it was Edo, of course it was, and he summoned Devil Guy to help out, because of course he did.

One would have thought people should have caught on that the weird vigilante roaming the streets used Destiny Heroes just like Pro League duelist Edo Phoenix used Destiny Heroes - but maybe the smoke bombs he used did enough to cloak him from inquisitive eyes.

And now he looked very annoyed, like on edge, like he was really looking forward to fighting those thugs - and maybe he was.

Okay, he most definitely was.

Even after years had passed, and they moved further away from Edo’s revenge, and everything that happened to them at and around Duel Academia - Edo was still full of energy, his eyes always keeping out on all his surroundings, his guards still not fully lowered. Edo did let a few people in, but that did not mean he was any less likely to go out to pick fights in alleyways.

Because that would have been a reasonable thing to do, probably.

(Not that Ryo had any right to judge whether Edo was or wasn’t reasonable.)

(He did it either way.)

“I suppose I should say thanks either way.”

His voice was mocking, and Edo just glared at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Don’t wreck yourself. They were a bother anyway. Had been causing trouble in this area lately.”

“I’m sure they were.”

Ryo’s voice did not lose his mocking tone, but as Edo opened his mouth, to no doubt bite back with something sharp as usual, Ryo just kissed him.

Edo kissed back with such intensity he was  _ biting  _ Ryo’s lips, and he also pulled him further down to the point Ryo had to steady himself on the wall behind the two of them.

Not that it made him ease up on the kiss at all.

~*~

Honestly, people trying to get retribution against Ryo was not an uncommon occurrence, but unlike what  _ certain people  _ had thought, he could take care of himself.

Of course, he couldn’t overexert himself. That was kind of a given.

Ryo  _ was _ kind of missing the thrill of pushing himself to the brink.

The way his heart would speed up, when he was  _ wondering  _ whether he could make it through the duel or not.

The way he had to  _ push  _ himself. Part of him even kept  _ anticipating  _ getting shocked by the collars on him, but the shock never came after a while.

It was almost a shame.

There was a thrill behind those duels that just nothing else could replicate - the duels he had in the Dark World were different. They were still  _ thrilling,  _ but it dampened the thrill somewhat that Ryo was already dying.

Anyway, he tried to think about this as little as he could - he knew that even if the shocks weren’t the main reason for his heart condition, they surely didn’t  _ help,  _ so his heart probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Probably.

Maybe.

Anyway, he once talked with Sho about whether or not his heart could handle it, and Sho looked at him like he didn’t know if he should cry or strangle Ryo for this, so Ryo ended up dropping the topic.

(Didn’t mean he stopped wondering.)

~*~

His home did have a very good security system installed - they got good money out of the Cyber League, and everything surrounding them, so they could afford it without problems.

So usually when Ryo made it home, it was safe.

He couldn’t be safe at work - there were security systems installed there as well, sure, but many more people were coming and going there too. The constant moving left a lot of openings, so Ryo had to always stay guarded.

(Some people called him paranoid.)

(But was he really?)

Obviously the way home was not safe either.

His home though - his home was. Only a handful of people had entry there, and Ryo had known and trusted all of them.

That’s why it was such a surprise when he got home, and he found the security system broken.

His hand hovered over the door handle - he knew he should have turned away. Maybe call the authorities. Probably file a complaint to the company who he got the security system from as well.

Oh well.

He could do those later.

So he just opened the door with a smirk, and couldn’t deny the way his heart sped up.

“I do wonder how you managed to break my security system,” He spoke out loud, into the dark penthouse. Silence. “There is no point in hiding. I know you are here.”

A figure moved from the darkness - but did not step out, so Ryo couldn’t see his face.

That was fine.

“Let me guess. You had come to take revenge on me?”

No answer.

The glimmer of a duel disk.

Ryo smirked as he put on his duel disk.

“You  _ are _ aware that I hadn’t gone soft at all, yes?”

The intruder did not reply, and Ryo figured it was fine this way.

He could deal with them.

But he did not have to.

His window snapped open, and suddenly there was a figure in the window - he saw another shadow behind him and it looked like  _ wings  _ before those disappeared, and there was just the initial shadowy figure with glowing eyes.

Glowing,  _ mismatched  _ eyes.

Ryo sighed, closing his eyes, and just lowered his arm.

“Really… I can take care of myself, you know.”

But really, he was used to it by this point.

Once the intruder was gone, and security measures reinforced, Judai was basically draped over Ryo’s chest, with a grin on his face.

“You  _ do  _ know I am not defenseless, right?”

“Of course I know,” Judai said, shrugging, playing with the hem of Ryo’s shirt. “But it doesn’t mean that I can’t do this either way.”

Judai was always protective - he would always be first in line to help and protect the ones he held dear, and this wouldn’t change. But now, especially where Ryo was concerned, there was some degree of  _ viciousness _ in the way he clung into Ryo, the way he would kiss him, and it sent shivers down on Ryo’s spine. It made Ryo want to go out more, to lure more of these revenge-thirsty people out, if it meant that Judai would kiss him like this, if he would hold onto him like this, in a way that it was almost  _ painful _ , in a way that it wouldn’t have been surprising if Judai had grown  _ claws _ to sink into Ryo to never let him go.

He didn’t, but that was a different question altogether.

~*~

Edo obviously was less than amused, but in the end, whenever the three of them were together, Edo would grow more fussy, threaten to sue a few people, before finally settling down on Ryo’s other side, and allow himself to be calmed down, as Judai’s fingers entangled themselves in his hair.

“You know you aren’t that much better when you are out playing vigilante in the city.”

Edo frowned, burying his face into Ryo’s neck.

“That’s different from being an idiot and getting off on being saved like a bad damsel in distress.”

“You don’t have to save me. I can take care of myself.”

“Sure, sure,” Judai waved it off, putting his head on Ryo’s other shoulder, keeping him completely trapped. “But you do enjoy this.”

Ryo didn’t answer, but not like he had to.

The people in the shadows eagerly hiding and waiting for a chance to strike against him, to get their revenge will not disappear even if he would stop being paranoid.

So might as well enjoy it.

That made everything a lot less boring anyways.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
